Railway track aligner



May 19, 1959 B. GEIER ETAL RAILWAY TRACK ALIGNER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 31, 1955 May 19, 1959 B. GEIER ETAL` 2,887,296

' RAILWAY TRACK ALIGNER Filed Aug. 31, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS May 19, 1959 B. IER ETAL 2,887,296

' RAILWAY TRACK ALIGNER Y Filed Aug. 51, 195s l v s lsheets-sheet s @xga/Mwah ATTORNEYS.

`2,337,296 RAILWAY TRACK ALIGNER Bernard Geier, Moscow, Pa., and John P. Hiltz, Jr., Scarsdale, N.Y., assignors to Railway Track Works Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 31, 1953, serial No. 377,272 z claims. `(cl. zet- 43) Our invention relates to a method and apparatus for aligning railway track.

An object of 'our invention is to align track in a minimum of time, effort and expense.

An object of our invention is to make such alignment possible without the aid of the large number of workmen now' normally employed to perform it.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the further description and the claims.

Figure l ofthe drawings, which show an embodiment of our invention, is a perspective view of our track aligning device in actual operation upon a piece of track, fragmentarily shown.

Figure 2 is a view in elevation of the jacking portion of our device resting with its spade flat, out of use.

Figure 3 is a view of that same portion in longitudinal section thru the middle, but broken away at the bottom near the tip of the spade; in this case it is shown in position of use, along with a fragmentary showing of the track. t

Figure 4` shows a plan view of the spade which forms part of the jacking portion of the device, sectioned thru the bar whichconnects it to the body of the jacking portion in the middle, and including the associated bolt and nut at the rear, but not any of the associated body tail-piece there. j,

Figure 5 shows a fragmentary end view of the body of this portion of the device, looking from the head end along the line of the axis ofthecylinder.

Figure 6 shows a plan view of the frame-work of the movable carriage portion of the device.

Figure 7 shows a view of the above in elevation on a rail fragmentarily` shown. p

Figure 8 is a fragmentary Vview of the above,rsectioned `along the line 8-48 in Figure 6. l

Turning to the description of this embodiment of the device` of `our invention, it includes one or more jacking portions 10 and a carriage portion 12, together with hose lines`14 forpressure duid .running from one to the other.

The `jacking portion is made up of a body 16 and a spade `18, `positioned at an acute angle with each other with the apex more or less at their rear end, and joined together not only at their rear end, but also by a bar 20 part 4way along. The body, which in operation is placed in horizontal position with head against the rail (see Figure 3), hasa ram 22 whose tapered head 24 in such case will abut the web 25 ofthe rail. Piston 28 on the rear end of the ram operates in cylinder 30 under the influence ofjpressure uid admitted Aat either end from the hose through openings 32 and 34 in the cylinder wall. The cylinder is reinforced by jacket 36 to the top of which is attached handle 38, and at the bottom toward the head end of which is welded the previously-mentioned bar 20.

Spade 18 is mostly in the shape of an inverted channel bar, having a cross section in the shape of an inverted U, with broad at portion 40 on top, and side walls 42 extending down. But at the front end 44 the broad hat 2,887,296 Patented May 19, 1959- portion slopes down at an angle toward the bottom of the side walls, and the side walls are prolonged in the f orm of a corresponding triangle to meet it, so that the Llp eid as a whole might be said to form a sort of hollow eve The front tip 46 of this sloping part or bevel is preferably made of an especially hard steel, which may, for example, be applied by welding, and the very tip 48 i1 preferably somewhat rounded rather than absolutely s arp.

At the rear end of the spade, the attachment to the rear end of the body can take any suitable form; in the example shown it is done by having a clevis arrangement 50, consisting of two separated sleeves 52, axed on the top of the spade, and tail piece 56 on the rear of the cylinder positioned between the sleeves of the clevis, with bolt (and associated nut) 58 pinning clevis and tail piece together. The top part of the channel may be cut away in the center rear to permit the tail piece to come between the arms of the clevis, if necessary. Extending out to the rear from the clevis is handle 60. Welded on, more or less midway along the top of the channel is reinforcing piece 61, to which bar 20 is welded.

In the device of our invention, the particular angles and dimensions used can be highly important. In a spec'iiic form which will work, and is our preferred form,

the body is about 19 inches long tip to tip in its con-` tracted position, with a 10 inch stroke making it about 29 inches long in its extended position. The spade is about 19 inches longl which makes a distance of somewhat over 2l inches from the very tip along a line at the very bottom of the sides of the channel to the point where the prolongation of this line meets the prolongation of the body center line. The angle between body and spade is 40. In cross section, the channel forming most of the spade is 7 inches across from edge to edge and 2 inches deep from its top to the bottom of the sides.

The bevel forming the end of the spade is about 42 in` angle with `relation to the projected direction of the top of,v the channel. l

`In other specific forms which have been tried and have worked, a spade about 21 inches long has been used, with around 23 inches from its tip to the point where the prolongations of the earlier mentioned lines would meet and with angles between body and spade of 45 in one case and 50 in another.

In general, the angle between spade and body should preferably be from about 40 to about 50, with about 40 the most to be preferred, the distance along the bottomiline of the channel from the tip to the point Where the prolongation of that line meets the prolongation of the bodys center line should preferably be around 22 inches, the cross-sectional width of the channel should preferably be about 7 inches, the depth of the channel should preferably beat least about 2 inches and the angle which the bevel at the end of the spade makes with the `prolongation of the top of the channel should preferably be from about 40 to about 45.

The pressure for the piston is supplied by use of pump` 64 driven by gasoline motor 66, and operated in conjunction` with storage tank 68 for hydraulic fluid, all` locatedon carriage portion 12. The pump, motor and,

of actual force in the forward stroke at the pressure used i at the same time going out of the other cylinder opening to the tank. Pressure gage 71 is located at cylinder opening 34 on one of the jacking portions.

In carriage portion 12, flanged track wheels 72support main platform 74, which rin turn supports lpump mount '75 for pump 64, motor mount extension 76 for motor 66, hydraulic control mount extension 78 for hydraulic control board 70, and tank bracket 80 for tank 6,8. Handles 32 extend from each of the corners. Carriage foot 84 is mounted on `the edge of thehydraulic control mount extension 78,by means of hinge lug members 86 and pins 88 about which it swings. Its sides 90 joined together by bottom 92 are angle irons 'with one angle extending down parallel to the outside edge of the control mount extension, so that the inside of this angle stops the foot from swinging beyond vertical downward position, while the location of the end of the angle iron at a point even with the top of the control mount extension when the foot is in vertical position stops the foot from swinging beyond vertical upward position. Tension spring 94, stretching from an intermediate point on the outside of the leg to an intermediate point on the outside of the transverse edge 96 of the hydraulic control mount extension, urges the foot toward which ever end of its swing is nearest. The carriage vportion and its various components are so arranged that the center of gravity of the whole thing will be in the direction of the foot from the center of the portion of the wheel intended to bear on the rail, to a degree suicient so that in normal standing position part of the weight Will be on the foot, although not suiciently to seriously unbalance the carriage intraveling.

AIn operation, when the track is out of alignment and needs to be moved over a bit, enough of the ballast between the ties at that point is dug out to enable the sloping spade of the jacking portion of our device to be pushed down to a point where, with the under side of the spade resting on ballast, the body of the jacking portion, with its ram retracted, is in horizontal position with its head resting against the inner side of the web of the rail. Care should be taken that the body is not appreciably sloping in either direction.

Once the jacking portion is in positiompressure is applied gradually at the very outset and then strongly'after the spade has gone back a little and seated itself, which normally requires perhaps a couple of inches. lBy this means, the track, ties and all, will be pushed in the direction of travel of the ram for a distance which will be on the general order of 5 inches if the entire stroke is utilized. Additional jacking portions can be used if desired, as shown in Figure l.

When We consider that such a large force is being employed against the rail by a horizontally directed ram with the entire support for this action coming from such a loose material as ballast located near by and so much lower down, it may seem surprising `that the device of our invention is effective to do the job, but it is highly so.

With the aid of this device, track which is out of alignment to either side can readily be straightened without requiring the aid of the large gang of workmen, normally about fourteen, which is now ordinarily employed for this purpose. Instead, it can be done by a much smaller group, tive being highly suitable, with consequent great reduction of costs.-

When an operation at one location is complete, the jacking portion can be picked up and if need be the carriage portion can be moved along the rail on its wheels or carried by the handles. In moving on its wheels, the carriage portion can be rtilted to bring its foot out of possible contact with the ties, or if desired the foot can be kicked up, from its stationary position extending downward to the ground, to its upward extending position.

In view of our invention and disclosure variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to othersfskilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the beneiits of our inventionwithout copying the structure shown, Vand we, therefore, claim all such insofar as they/fall within thereasonable-spirit and scope of our claims.

Having thus describedour invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A track aligning device comprising a horizontally directed cylinder adapted to receive iluid pressure, a source of uid yunder pressure connected to said cylinder, a horizontally directed ram having at one end a piston operating in said cylinder and at the other end a head adapted to contact the side of a rail, the direction toward said head being hereinafter denominated forward, a foot attached to the rear end of the cylinder and extending slopingly downward in a` forward direction therefrom at an angle of about 40 degrees, to a point nearly under, but short of, the forward end of the cylinder, said foot having a tlat top member extendingnearly all its length, two side members extending its entire length, and an end member-at the forward end thereof and slightly forwardly from the forward end of the top member to the bottom ofthe forward ends of the side members, and a stifI' member rigidly connecting a point in the mid-third of the top member of the foot to a point in the forward third of the cylinder.

2. A track aligning device of claim 1, in which the distance along the longitudinal center line of a portion of a plane bounded by the `edges of the side members, the edge of the end member, and a line connecting the ends of the edges of theside members remote from the end member, is 22 inches.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 396,332 Floyd Jan. 15,1889 796,541 Tompkins Aug. 8, 1905 827,491 Wulif et al July 31, 1906 968,150 Hackett et al Aug. 23, 1910 978,858 Devitt Dec. 20, 1910 1,370,526 Fitzgerald Mar. 8, 1921 1,496,157 Gibson June 3, 1924 1,826,075 Jackson -20ct. 6, 1931 1,875,248 Lynch Aug. 30, 1932 1,947,537 Spagna Feb. 20, 1934 2,050,179 Holt et al ..2 Aug. 4, 1936 2,502,750 Rich Apr. 4, 1950 2,542,274 'Carpenter Feb. 20, 1951 

